Workers, unions, executives call out Pentagon's recent AI-related moves
Open letters from the US tech sector are currently circulating to oppose the expanded military uses of artificial intelligence and the US government's escalating fight with Anthropic, following American air strikes on Iran and the Pentagon's move to blacklist the AI firm.
The letters, signed by workers and organisers at Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and others, call on tech firms to limit or reject contracts that would enable mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
They also criticise the Department of War's decision to label Anthropic a "supply chain risk" after the company refused to relax safety limits on its Claude models.
The campaign has emerged as the Pentagon pressures AI providers to accept contract terms allowing "any lawful use" of their systems in classified military operations, and as rival labs pursue or expand defence deals in the wake of the Iran strikes and the US ban on Anthropic technology.
'We Will Not Be Divided'
One open letter, titled "We Will Not Be Divided" is being circulated among current and former staff at Google and OpenAI and has drawn hundreds of signatures.
The letter focuses on the Pentagon's clash with Anthropic over its refusal to support mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
The text argues that military and political leaders are playing AI companies against one another to secure broader permissions for battlefield use.
"They're trying to divide each company with fear that the other will give in," the letter reads. "That strategy only works if none of us know where the others stand. This letter serves to create shared understanding and solidarity in the face of this pressure from the Department of War."
The signatories said they hope their leaders will put aside differences to "refuse the Department of War's current demands for permission to use our models for domestic mass surveillance and autonomously killing people without human oversight."
Reject Pentagon's demands
A separate statement, published by the No Tech For Apartheid coalition, directly calls on Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to refuse Pentagon's AI terms.
"We are speaking out today because the Pentagon is demanding that Anthropic abandon two major safety guardrails for Claude, which is the only frontier AI model currently deployed in classified Department of War operations," the letter states.
It describes those guardrails as no mass domestic surveillance, no fully autonomous agents, which means "no AI-powered weaponry that can kill people without human oversight."
"If any tech company caves to the Pentagon's demands, War Secretary Pete Hegseth will have won the ability to surveil our communities — here and abroad — en masse, at an unprecedented level. He will have the power to build and deploy AI-powered drones that kill people without the approval of any human," the letter added.
The signatories of the open letter include groups such as Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, No Tech For Apartheid, the Alphabet Workers Union, and the Communications Workers of America.
They also call for federal legislation restricting AI use for "violence and mass surveillance" and for greater transparency around contracts with US security agencies.
"In the absence of federal oversight, we are taking matters into our own hands," the letter reads.
"As workers who make these companies run, here are our demands: Executive leadership at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon must reject the Pentagon's advances and provide workers with transparency about contracts with other repressive state agencies including DHS, CBP, and ICE."
Push back on 'dangerous precedent'
A third open letter, "An Open Letter to the Department of War and Congress," is signed by founders, engineers, investors, and executives from across the American technology sector.
While not focused on workplace organising, it challenges the government's response to Anthropic's stance.
"We write as founders, engineers, investors, and executives in the American technology industry. We strongly believe the federal government should not retaliate against a private company for declining to accept changes to a contract," the letter says.
The authors argue that branding Anthropic a "supply chain risk" and barring military contractors from doing business with the company goes beyond ordinary commercial disputes.
"This situation sets a dangerous precedent," they write, contending that it signals to every AI developer that it must accept whatever terms the government demands or face retaliation.
They urge the Department of War to withdraw the designation and call on Congress to review the use of such authorities against US firms as AI systems become more deeply embedded in defence and intelligence operations.
